Jules Bianchi’s father pays emotional tribute on anniversary of Suzuka crash

Jules Bianchi’s father has paid an emotional tribute to his late son on the 12th anniversary of the Formula 1 accident in 2014 that ultimately claimed his life.

The French racer was involved in a horrifying accident during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, which was run in wet conditions due to the approaching Typhoon Phanfone.

On the 42nd lap of the 53-lap race, Sauber driver Adrian Sutil spun off and crashed into the barriers at Suzuka’s Turn 7.

On the following lap, Bianchi lost control of his Marussia on the approach to the corner while it was under double-waved yellow flags.

Bianchi made direct contact with a recovery vehicle on the scene of the Sutil crash and suffered a serious head injury.

The Frenchman was placed into an induced coma but died from his injuries on 17 July 2015 in hospital in Nice, making him the first driver to be killed due to an incident in a Formula 1 race since Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994.

On social media, Bianchi’s father Philippe posted an emotional tribute to his late son.

“12 years. I miss you, very sad, but we work for you every day [to] never forget you. I love you,” Philippe wrote alongside a picture from Bianchi during his early racing years.

Bianchi made his F1 debut in 2013 with the Marussia team, having finished third in the GP2 standings in 2010 and 2011, and second in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2012.

A Ferrari junior, Bianchi scored his first points in F1 in 2014 at the Monaco Grand Prix when he finished ninth.

It marked the team’s first points, in either its guise as Virgin Racing between 2010 and 2011, and as Marussia.

It wouldn’t score a point again until the 2016 season, under the Manor Racing banner, with Pascal Wehrlein.

The team folded at the end of that year.

In the wake of Bianchi’s accident, F1 made numerous safety changes in a bid to avoid a similar crash happening again.

Among them were the introduction of the virtual safety car to better control speeds through incident zones if needed.

The Bianchi crash also led to a greater push towards cockpit protection in F1, with the halo introduced for the 2018 season.

At the start of this year, a kart belonging to Bianchi was stolen from his father’s work shop was recovered following a plea on social media for information.